Anyone please enlighten me on this one. I am a Filipina and i’ve been working in Singapore for 9 years. I applied for a US Tourist Visa sometime in 2012 and got denied which i fully understand why. I was new with my job in Singapore…i was not able to demonstrate my strong ties with family, work etc. Then i met my boyfriend who is a US Military officer when he was deployed in Asia and we are two years now. His deployment ended and so we decided that i have to visit him first while we are working on things until my marriage annulment is over this year. Having said that, i applied for a Tourist Visa last May and got denied. I filed another application and got interviewed last July 11 and again got denied. Here is my status. I would appreciate if somebody could shed light on what is happening and what i need to do to get a visa.

I have a permanent job on a construction company with good salary. The catch is i joined the company August last year. So basically, i’m less than 1 year working with the company though i stayed 8 years with my previous company.

I have sufficient funds to cover my trip and stay.

I traveled to 14 countries it includes several times to Australia and and Canada soon since i got my visa to Canada approved.

Does telling the immigration officer about visiting my boyfriend would help or would do more damage? I would appreciate if somebody could advice me on this.

Telling the truth is always the best approach. Changing your story over the course of various visa applications isn’t a good idea. Your recent change of job may have been a factor. Do you own property in Singapore? Related question travel.stackexchange.com/questions/80630/…?
– TravellerJul 23 at 8:34

Hi...thank you for replying. I did stick to my answer like i will just visit the US as a tourist and explore few beautiful cities. However, the last immigration officer who interviewed me was kind enough to tell me that one factor is my job because i just joined with the company. As to your question if i own a property in Singapore, the answer is no. I would like to solicit advice here because i plan to reapply. I believe you are right about telling the truth.
– Fel SudsJul 23 at 8:44

1 Answer
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Telling the truth is the way to get more probabilities to get the visa. I interpret this in a wide sense, so also not hiding important informations.

Why are you travelling in USA? In specific locations? Alone? Officers checks such facts and get an idea of what you will do, and the risk. There is no wrong way to answer them, but you officers should be convinced that you are telling the truth, so consistent answers, and with some reasoning. By hiding information, you will probably tend to hide other facts, and officer could notice and so have doubt of your real application purpose.

For the real answer: it is difficult to tell you. It depends on too much facts (and training/experience of officer, which we don't have).

If your boyfriend will be deployed soon again outside US, you will have good reason not to remain in US.

If you both plan to eventually marry, you may also get more probabilities: you will (probably) not ruin your chances to live in US with an overstay. You can also explicitly say that if you marry him, you will seek legally to stay in US. They will not decide now for such plan, just for your short term plan (and so that now you will not overstay or work in US). Telling about long term plans could make more easy to understand what you will do and will not do on short term.

So don't hide your relationship (and so the reason you travel in US). Telling them should only help you. But you may still get a refusal, but in my opinion, because other reasons. Check this site, and tell your boyfriend to read your application, so that you will not make newbies errors (like missing documents, or assuming US officer will understand your culture/lifestyle/school system/job/...).

Thank you Giacomo. I appreciate your input. I tried hiding the truth of my visit and got denied twice. I have nothing to lose (well $160 i guess but it's worth it) if i will tell the truth on my next application.
– Fel SudsJul 23 at 11:00

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Be aware that now telling a different story (the truth) will make this application inconsistent with the two previous applications, in which you apparently did not tell the truth. This inconsistency alone makes it unlikely that you'll be granted a visa, as you'll have told different stories at different times, making it clear that sometimes you don't tell the truth. As you're being assessed for credibility, this will seriously harm your chances of success. I fully agree with Traveller and Giacomo Catenazzi, however, that telling the truth to Immigration is always the best approach.
– DavidJul 23 at 16:13